Tag Archives: sxsw

How does Austin interact with the world, and how does the world interact with us?

That’s the question the SXSW Flashback crew is trying to answer with this year’s program, airing at 9 p.m. Thursday, July 16 (additional airdates). In its fifth year, SXSW Flashback 2015 is themed around the international portion of South by Southwest — from UK rockers Wolf Alice to the phenomenon that is Korean pop music.

“This year we’re doing it a little different, because we went with a theme, which was international,” said JJ Weber, executive producer of SXSW Flashback. “How do we interact with the world, and how does the world interact with us? And why are they coming to this festival? It’s insane how many people come.”

Weber and his SXSW Flashback crew have seen the annual festival grow tremendously in the last five years. Two years before SXSW Flashback began, Weber was doing SXSW coverage for another KLRU program called Docubloggers. That’s where he and another crew member got the idea for the new program, he said.

“I call it, ‘All the best bits,’” said Galia Farber, KLRU’s production & operations manager who works as a producer on SXSW Flashback. “It is insane. I kind of try to start looking at what’s announced and coming, and we chat about stuff, but initially a lot of it is also just reaching out, throwing darts and seeing what sticks, but also we have to try to just stay in the moment and say, ‘Alright, we think we’re going to to this,’ and something kind of serendipitous happens. We’ll be interviewing someone, and someone will suggest something, or you’ll randomly stumble upon a party, something that fits in with another interview. Some of it lands in your lap, almost randomly.”

It takes months for the program to come together — from tracking down rumors of celebrity keynotes months before the festival to the post-production process, which is part of the reason the show is a “flashback” that airs four to six months after the festival, Weber said. Another reason is that it can sometimes take a while for the bands, films and technology introduced at the festival to filter out to a larger audience.

“So much of the stuff that’s at the festival, like films, they come out months later,” Weber said. “Bands release their CDs later or they get found at the festival and they’re not popular at first. The tech companies release a product, and the general public won’t have even touched it until months later. So sometimes, it’s almost better to see the show after, to say, ‘Oh my gosh, I saw that at the festival,’ or, ‘That was here? Those people were here? I can’t believe they did that.’”

One of the biggest challenges, Weber and Farber said, was passing up well-known celebrities or some of the larger, hyped-up parts of the festival because they didn’t fit into the theme.

“This year was definitely very intentionally done. There are things we would not do because it was not international,” Farber said.

“The hardest part is when you’re handed things on a silver platter, and you don’t want them. It’s like, ‘Are we making a large mistake, or is this going to work fine?’ And the viewers can tell us about that,” Weber said.

That’s not to say there aren’t big celebrities in this year’s program — Ryan Gosling, after all, is Canadian.

“I just hope from this episode that viewers might see something they would never have seen otherwise, and get into some random world music or look into film that they never would have watched,” Weber said.

The newest edition of KLRU’s Lone Star Emmy nominated show, SXSW Flashback, premieres this week! We go back to March for a half hour of SXSW highlights, featuring interviews with 50 Cent, Ian Somerhalder, the Captains from Deadliest Catch, Bruce Campbell, Fred Armisen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Aisha Tyler, and more! And, most importantly, (drum roll, please) Grumpy Cat. Learn about their experiences here in Austin this year, and about their current projects.

This year we have also added a familiar voice to help guide you through the madness. KUTX Program Director and Afternoon Host, Matt Reilly, lends his pipes as our show’s narrator.

The next edition of KLRU’s Lone Star Emmy nominated show, SXSW Flashback, is debuting this month. Like its predecessors, SXSW Flashback 2012 takes viewers back to March for one hour of SXSW excitement, once again featuring a wide variety of interviews ranging from the already-made-its to the up-and-comers of the entertainment world. Highlights for 2012 include Channing Tatum, Willem Dafoe, Kimbra, Matthew McConaughey, Lance Gross, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, and many more, discussing their latest movies and music as well as their experiences here visiting Central Texas and SXSW.

SWSW Flashback will air on KLRU on Tuesday, October 23rd, at 10:30 p.m.

Featuring a wide variety of interviews ranging from the already-made-its to the up-and-comers of the entertainment world, SXSW Flashback takes viewers back to March 2010 for one hour of SXSW excitement. This one-hour special airs at 8 p.m. on Thursday, August 19 on KLRU. Highlights include Bill Murray, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Ed Norton, and Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead discussing their latest movies and music as well as their experiences here visiting Central Texas and SXSW.

Featuring a wide variety of interviews ranging from the already-made-its to the up-and-comers of the entertainment world, SXSW Flashback takes viewers back to March 2010 for one hour of SXSW excitement. Highlights include Bill Murray, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Ed Norton, and Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead discussing their latest movies and music as well as their experiences here visiting Central Texas and SXSW.

SWSW Flashback will air on KLRU on Thursday, August 19, at 8 p.m. but you can watch it now online.